Naturally, the world is rife with examples of terrible leadership. Donald Trump sits on the tip of everyone’s tongue as the quintessential example. Yet, in the travel business, let us not forget the scrutiny and onslaught Oscar Munoz was under, following United’s handling of the assault and forcible removal of a United passenger, who refused to give up his seat.
When things go wrong, all eyes are inevitably on the leader. It doesn’t matter how far removed they are from a particular situation, whether the United assault was a one-off event due to a rogue employee or if it was reflective of deeper, flawed company practices. People demand accountability from the top.
Leadership is everything to do with adapting to what the world throws at you and gauging the most appropriate way to respond. Munoz failed to take responsibility immediately and thus made a bad situation far worse not just for himself but the company altogether with a calamitous fall in share price being just one damaging consequence.
As the dust began to settle around one drama, we also saw United Airlines make headlines once more, for the mysterious death of a giant bunny on board. Perhaps the last example would not have made as much news, had the first event not occurred, but as I said, in trying times, focus rests on the person at the top.
Needless to say, Munoz didn’t make it to the WTTC Global Summit last week in Bangkok where he was ironically due to be interviewed about leadership.
In his place, CEO of AirAsia Group, Tony Fernandes took the stage to reflect upon experiences where his own leadership abilities have been tested.
It’s fair to say that Fernandes experienced a ‘test of leadership’ fresh off the starting block. Following the airline’s launch on September 8, 2001, with just two planes in Malaysia… 9/11 happened, just three days later.
Suddenly, the world was afraid to fly, afraid to travel. Not an ideal circumstance for someone who has just launched an airline.
The pressure was on Fernandes to keep AirAsia alive even when plane seats were going empty so, he leveraged the crisis as a window of opportunity to build the company’s brand and recognition.
While other airlines cut back and began saving, Fernandes lowered airfares but tripled his advertising budget in an attempt to recapture the attention of would-be travellers.
“I know Malaysians very well,” he joked dryly, “if it’s cheap enough, they’ll risk their life for it.”
Similar challenges were faced following the 2002 Bali bombings and then again during the SARS outbreak.
In response to the Bali bombing, AirAsia launched the Love Bali campaign, offering 900 free seats to passengers. The predicted logic being that a free seat could quell any customer’s fear of terrorism. It was a gamble that paid off. Those that won a free trip to Bali would then return, telling others that Bali was still safe.
AirAsia succeeded by not only drawing attention to their low fares but also simultaneously encouraging people to visit the island, helping to revive at least some of the demand for travel.
While these events are suggestive of Fernandes’ creative and adaptable qualities as a leader in the face of global events, he was arguably truly put to the test with the disappearance of flight QZ8501 over in December 2014.
Fernandes admitted that prior to the accident, he’d never taken learning about crisis communication and management that seriously, taking the gravity of his position somewhat for granted. Yet, when the news broke, “it was like Armageddon.”
He described the countless phone calls he’d received, dishing out advice about how to best respond, many dissuading him from going to Surabaya. Nevertheless, Fernandes flew out, eager to express solidarity with not just the families of the victims but with his own team too.
“I felt responsible for it… I needed them to feel as though we were doing our absolute best,” Fernandes explained as he sat on stage. He was relieved when he realised that the families did not blame him for the disaster, but knew that responsibility rested on him to offer his and the company’s full support.
The tragedy taught him that “transparency, openness and humility” were vital. It signified the importance of EQ too, especially when human emotion and suffering truly hung in the balance. “In any crisis, you’ve got to be genuine and tell the truth. If you don’t, people will find out soon enough.”
Reflecting further on the accident, Fernandes said, “safety is a marathon… you need to keep an eye out and keep looking on how to improve.”
Inevitably, part of being a ‘responsible and ‘responsive’ leader has to do with how you respond when things go wrong. Unless you are as capable of handling failure as well as you handle success, it doesn’t really count.